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PRAIRIE FORUM Vol.4, NO.2 Fall, 1979 CONTENTS "Making Good": The Canadian West in British Boys' Literature, 1890-1914 165 Patrick A. Dunae American Neutrality and the Red River Resi-stance, 1869-1870 183 James G. Snell Longitudinal Research in Cultural Ecology: A History of the Saskatchewan Research Program, 1960-77 197 John W. Bennett and Seena B. Kohl Dissolved Oxygen Depletion Problems in Ice-Covered Alberta Rivers 221 P. H. Bouthillier and S. E. Hrudey The Urban West The Evolution of Prairie Towns and Citles to 1930 237 Alan F. J. Artibise Regional Development and Social Strife: Early Coal Mining in Alberta 263 Kirk Lambrecht .Book Reviews (see overleaf) 281 PRAIRIE FORUM is published. twice yearly, in May and November, at an annual subscription of $10.00. AU subscriptions, correspondence and contributions should be sent to The Editor, Prairie Forum, Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S OA2. Subscribers wilf also receive the Canadian Plains Bulletin, the newsletter of the Canadian Plains Research Center. PRAIRIE FORUM is not responsible for statements, either of fact or of opinion, made by contributors. COPYRIGHT 1980 ISSN0317-6282 CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER BOOK REVIEWS BRAROE,NIELS WINTHER, Indian and White: Self-Image and Interaction in a Canadian Plains Community by Marlene Mackie 281 BRASS, ELEANOR, Medicine Boy and Other Cree Tales by Byrna Barclay 284 'HEPWORTH, DOROTHY (editor), Explorations in Prairie Justice Research by Curt Taylor Griffiths 289 RICHARDS, JOHN and LARRY PRATT, Prairie Capitalism: Power and Influence in the New West by James N. McCrorie 292 HUSTAK, ALLAN, Peter Lougheed by Kenneth Munro 295 MORGAN, DAN, Merchants of Grain by J. F.Conway 300 PRAIRIE FORUM: Journal of the Canadian Plains Research Center Chief Editor: Alec Paul, Geography, Regina Associate Editors: Alan Anderson, Sociology, Saskatoon L. Crossman, English, Regina W. Howard, English, Regina Raymond Huel, History, Lethbridge M. Evelyn Jonescu, CPRC, Regina J. Long, Architect, Calgary R.Macleod, History, Edmonton G. Mitchell, Biotoqy, Regina R. Rounds, Geography, Brandon Coordinator of Publications: Barbara Jones, CPRC, Regina Editorial Page With this issue the 1970s phase of Prairie Forum gives way to what hopefully will be a consolidation phase for the journal in the 1980s. The 1970s were an exciting period; the Canadian Plains Research Center decided to launch a new regional journal devoted to the Canadian prairies, the launching was achieved in 1976, and the first few difficult years have been passed. The flow of manuscripts has increased most encouragingly and the journal has achieved a degree of acceptance, although its financial situation remains somewhat ambiguous, and we have had difficulty meeting our publication deadlines. We are optimistic that 1980 will see the journal return to schedule as far as its spring and fall publication dates are concerned, and that we will continue to be favoured with the variety of disciplinary contribu tions that has been evident especially in the past two or three issues. The current collection is no exception. We look forward to the challenge of building on the base of the 1970s and thank all those who have subscribed, contributed, reviewed, edited, provided financial support and otherwise assisted Prairie Forum in these first four years. ALEC H. PAUL, Chief Editor PRAIRIE FORUM, 1979, Vol. 4, No.2 165 "Making Good": The Canadian West in British Boys' Literature, 1890-1914 Patrick A. Dunae Department of History,' University of Victoria ABSTRACT. Following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the federal government made concerted efforts to attract British emigrants to western Canada. To that end immigration authorities received considerable assistance from the British juvenile press. Boys' literature, which was aimed at independently-minded adolescents, offered its readers enticing pictures of life in the farming and ranching communities of the Canadian West; it actively encouraged immigration to the prairies and in so doing provided advice and assistance to intending settlers. The impact of this literature is difficult to evaluate, but it appears likely that it did provide a very effective means of encouraging the immigration of youthful and ambitious British males to western Canada in late-Victorian and Edwardian times. RESUME Lorsque le Chemin de Fer du Canadien Pacifique fut acheve en 1885, le gouvernement federal fit des efforts concertes pour attirer des emigrants britanniques dans l'Ouest canadien. En cela, les autorites responsables de l'immigration recurent l'aide considerable de la presse britan nique destinee aux jeunes. La litterature pour garcons, qui s'adressait ades adolescents al'esprit independant, offrait ases lecteurs des images allechantes de la vie dans les fermes et les ranchs de l'Ouest canadien; elle encourageait activement l'immigration dans les Prairies et, pour cela, offrait conseils et aide aux eventuels colons. L'impact de cette litterature est difficile aevaluer, mais il parait vraisemblable qu'elle ait servi tres efficacement a encourager l'immigration de jeunes Britanniques pleins d'ambition vers l'Ouest canadien, ala fin de l'ere victorienne et sous le regne d'Edouard VII. In the quarter century prior to the Great War approximately one and ·one half million Britons migrated to Canada. Included in this veritable army were thousands of young, independent males, ranging in age from about fifteen to twenty-five; the majority were unmarried and most were unaccompanied by their parents or guardians. Un doubtedly many of them received some assistance from voluntary organizations interested in the welfare of new settlers; in most instances, however, the youths migrated independently of the Bar nardo Homes and other philanthropic societies for juvenile emigration. Like many of their countrymen, the youths were motivated by a variety of "push" factors such as unemployment, low wages, over crowding, and the rigid class structure which persisted in Great Britain. But these young emigrants were also motivated by "pull" factors, notably by the attractive if glamourized impressions they had of life in the Canadian West. Ralph Stock, the author and adventurer, was one young man drawn to the West by such impressions. At the turn of the century, he recalled in 1913, London was "plastered with flaring posters representing fields of yellow grain and herds of fat stock tended by cowboys picturesquely attired in costumes that have never been heard of outside the covers of a penny dreadful." Alluring pamphlets were distributed freely on street corners, while "unctuous" immigra tion agents implored young passers-by to attend meetings where they would hear ofthe fortunes to be made in the Dominion. "What chance 166 DUNAE was there, then" Stock asked, "of the average city youth, cooped in an office from nine o'clock until six, resisting suchan appeal to the spirit of adventure?"} What chance, indeed? Not only were there pamphlets, posters, and hordes of sidewalk agents to attract his attention, but there was also a striking array of boys' literature, much of which was dedicated to promoting immigration to western Canada. Popular literature for boys occupied a prominent place in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Fully one quarter of the British publishing industry was devoted to the juvenile market, and that market was the largest and most sophisticated in the world. Adventure novels by the leading boys' writers sold upwards of 150,000 copies per year, while juvenile periodicals, such as the Boy's Own Paper, achieved circulations in excess of one million per week. Yet despite these levels of circulation, and despite the fact that the literature often featured stories and articles relating to Canada, juvenile books and magazines have received very little attention from Canadian historians.? This is unfortunate, because western Canada was a popular setting for much of this literature. The region offered a hardy climate plus an impressive landscape and, with a little embellishment, boys' writers could readily introduce hostile natives and a population of struggling white pioneers. Such elements were prominent features in the well-remem bered juvenile stories of R. M. Ballantyne, W. H. G. Kingston, and J. Macdonald Oxley, authors who were personally familiar with the Canadian North West. The standard dramatic elements were found, too, in tales by writers such as Robert Leighton who never visited the Dominion but who, nevertheless, provided young Britons with thrilling accounts of life in the Great Lone Land." Possibly of more importance were the many non-fiction accounts of western Canada which were presented to Victorian and Edwardian youths. The Boy's Own Paper, published by the Religious Tract Society and arguably the most respected of the juvenile weeklies, regularly provided its readers with articles on the Canadian Indians, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the ever-popular North-West Mounted Police. Other juvenile magazines, such as Chums, Young England, the Captain, and the boys' papers of Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe), provided similar accounts, many of which were written by colonial correspondents and specially-appointed overseas reporters. Almost to a man the journalists who contributed to these publications extolled- the fertility and awesome grandeur of the prairies; they praised the climate as being exhilarating, described the wealth and the personal satisfaction to be gained through farming or stock raising, and frequently drew attention to the generous home steads provided to settlers by the Canadian government. British boys' books and periodicals did not concentrate solely on western Canada, for readers were also provided with accounts oflife in WEST IN BOYS' LITERATURE 167 Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. However, Canada generally received more attention and was recommended more highly to intending emigrants than were the other settlement colonies. The prominent and favoured position which the Dominion enjoyed in the literature was due partly to its geographic proximity: quite simply, it was cheaper to travel to Canada than to Africa or the Antipodes.